Session Fifty-Four - February 2, 2008

[Matt]

Azura 3, 731

The party wakes to find the day a typical lovely Harn day. They dress for the cold, rainy and dark day and head to the docks where the talbar that they booked for travel the previous day is waiting for them. Ewen pays the captain the 96d for the voyage and load their horses. They are soon under way by 6 am. By mid-morning they pass the town of Onden on the south bank as the crew rows the talbar steadily on. They pass only one other talbar on the trip.

Around early afternoon the party arrives at Lerenil. The settlement is on the south bank of the river. The talbar pulls up to a large dock with other talbars being unloaded and loaded along with a small nivik. The party off-loads and a dock worker points them to the “River’s End Inn” which is just beyond the market. As the party walks through the settlement they see a large compound to the south of the docks that turns out to be the seamen’s hostel. As they travel a little farther along a few members of the party are reminded of the town of Selvos.

When the reach the inn they find the gates standing open to a courtyard. As they enter a large man with a leathery complexion and long dark hair pulled back into a pony-tail comes out of the stable area. He grunts and asks the group if they are guests. Ewen cleverly replies that they soon will be guests as soon as they check in. The man points to himself and seems to indicate that his name is ‘Attuc,’ he then takes all the horses’ reins in one hand and leads them into the stable. Baris nods at Quinn, and the squire follows Attuc to the stable to make sure that the horses are cared for and to check how full the stables are.

The door to the inn faces the gate and as they enter the party finds themselves in a neatly appropriated antechamber, with chairs and a table against one wall. Sitting, somewhat demurely, behind the table is a young, small, wiry woman. As she stands to greet the party they see she is of average height.

Ewen asks the young woman if they have any accommodation. The woman introduces herself as Anice and asks if they will be requiring rooms for six. Baris mentions that there are seven of them, as Quinn is in the stables. Anice nods to Baris and looks to Ewen asking how many rooms total will be needed. Ewen says four would be sufficient. Anice seems to be trying to gauge the size of Ewen’s purse and seems to fail before asking what level of accommodation they will need, as they have a wide variety. Ewen asks for the best room that they have. Anice responds that he is in luck as the ‘Lord’s Room’ is available. Ewen nods and says he’d take that and something suitable for his esteemed companions. Anice nods and tells Ewen that she thinks that she can handle that, and mentions that they usually rent the ‘Low Room’ with the ‘Lord’s Room’ and she turns and leads the party past the common room, which the party only has a chance to glance in, as Anice leads the party upstairs. They pass a curtained off room and continue down the hall, turning right around a corner where Anice opens a door with no lock on it revealing a long corridor. At the end of the corridor there is a locked door, which she opens and informs the party that this is the ‘Lord’s Room’. Ewen looks in and sees a larger poster bed with a lock chest at the foot of it. There are also two chairs, desk and a window with a decent view. The room seems clean. Ewen indicates that this will suffice and Anice nods and asks for confirmation that there are seven. Baris responds saying that his squire is in the stables. The fact that Baris is a knight throws Anice off balance, she asks if he should be taking the better room, which leads Ewen to introduce himself as a knight as well. Anice nods (possible sliding the price scale up) and shows Baris another room with a double bed, chest and a single chair. Kaelyn tries to claim the room, but Baris ignores her. The other rooms are similarly set-up, if slightly less nice. Anice leads the party back down the stairs where she tells Ewen that the price for all seven of them, is 30d for each night. As Ewen opens his purse, Anice writes in the ledger ‘Knights and attendants.’ She points out the common and seems to remember that they mentioned that they had horses. She asks if Attuc already has the horses, when she gets the affirmative answer she amends the bill to include the price of stabling the horses.

The party heads to the common room. Inside the common room they see a long table with benched in a corner, at the other end there is a round table with chairs next to a roaring fire place. At the bar there is a middle aged man with a receding hairline and drooping mustache. Roaming the room serving drinks, and wiping down tables is a solid blonde woman. The only other customers in the room at the moment are a couple of locals sitting at the long table. The woman comes up to the party and introduces herself as Sybil; she tells them to sit and she’ll be with them shortly. After the rainy ride down the river and walk through town the party heads to the table next to the fire to warm up and dry out. Just as the party gets situated, Sybil comes over and asks if they are staying at the inn and if they met Anice and is she set them up properly. The party nods, and she goes on saying that she imagines that they are hungry and quickly rattles off the menu of mutton pie or roast chicken. She mentions that they have stout ale, perry or cider and even some Jarin whiskey. The party gives Sybil their order with everyone ordering some whiskey to warm up. Sybil nods and says she’ll bring everyone a shot right away. Baris and Havard seem disappointed by the small glass of whiskey that Sybil brings everyone. She comes back a few minutes later with ales for all and tells them that the food will be out shortly.

As the party warms up, they discuss the next steps they should take. Baris offers to ask around and hire a guide to take them out the ruined manor houses. Before the party comes up with another plan, Sybil and a younger girl brings out their food. Baris manages to get Sybil’s attention before she goes off again. He tells her that they heard of the ruined manors around here and they wished to see them, but since they don’t the land, does she have any recommendations of guide. Sybil asks which exact manors they were thinking of, and Baris tells her. She thinks a moment before answering that to the west along the river, Old Wat would know. She tells them that he lives near the river and he comes in from time to time looking for food and drink. She says that he was in yesterday and will be in tonight if he is still in town. With their questions answered to her satisfaction, Sybil heads back to the kitchen.

As soon as Sybil exits the room, on of the locals at the other table picks up his tankard and walks over to the party. The man is middle-aged, with a sharp nose and close-set eyes. He is wearing a cap and is fairly well-dressed. “Strangers in town are you?” he asks. Ewen answers in the affirmative.

“My name is Uthr of Raspel” he says as he takes a seat. Ewen introduces himself, leaving the rest of the party unidentified at the moment.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. We don’t get too many gentlemen in this place. They usually stay up at the Barony.”

“The accommodations of this place seem appropriate for our purposes.” Ewen replies.

The man smiles and nods in the direction of the man behind the bar, “I’m sure Keffer appreciates that.

“What brings you to Lerenil? I ask in an almost official capacity, being a member of the town council and all.”

Ewen refrains from rolling his eyes at the small town web of curiosity he seems to have found himself in and tells Uthr that they are merely taking in the countryside. Uthr replies “That’s a new one.” Ewen feeling the need to expand tells him that they heard that there were some manors no longer in operation near here and they sounded interesting. Uthr tells Ewen that most people go out to the manors looking for treasure, they never find any, but they still come from time-to-time. He, himself is a potter and doesn’t roam far from Lerenil. Ewen mentions that Sybil told them the best guide they would find around here would be Old Wat.

“Sybil’s right. Old Wat is just the man you’re looking for, but you might want stay upwind of him.” Uthr says with a chuckle, “If you don’t mind me saying, you don’t sound like Chybisans, where are you from?”

“Tharda. We are doing a tour of the east.”

“And you started in Lerenil?”

“Actually, we started elsewhere. We had just passed through Kaldor and saw the sights and decided to follow the whatever trail down.”

Uthr says that he’s never been to Kaldor but hears it is different. Ewen nods, and mentions that he has heard that there was some bad blood between Kaldor and Chybisa. Uthr replies that’s in the past and to him it’s all water under the bridge. Ewen continues saying that they will probably head to Thay after they finish touring Chybisa. Uthr mentions that Ewen seems to be a world traveler, and that he hears that Thay is almost as big as Tashal. Ewen smiles and tell Uthr that he though he should just travel until he settles down on a manor. Uthr mentions something about Ewen being a knight errant and that if he ever needs any pottery his humble establishment is just past the mill near the stream to the south of town. Ewen thanks him and tells Uthr that they will keep that in mind. He then asks if Lerenil has any mapmakers in residence. Uthr says no, but the baron would most certainly have some maps. Ewen asks Uthr who the current Baron of the area is. Uthr finds it interesting that Ewen doesn’t know and informs him that the Baron Salagys Legith has been the lord here for nearly 20 years and that he is a good lord. Ewen asks if the baron’s family is old. Uthr replies that the family goes back a ways but not as far as some of the other barons. They had taken over during the Treasure War 60 or so years ago. Uthr chuckles and says he doesn’t remember the war as he is younger than he looks. Ewen smiles and replies that honest living will do that to a person. Uthr agrees and bids Ewen a pleasant day. As Uthr rejoins his friends at the other table, the party notices that the barkeep has moved over to join the locals and they seem to be chatting, most likely about them.

At some point Baris has wandered off to the antechamber. He asks Anice if a petite woman with long brown hair had stayed here during the past week. Anice answered that they are the only guests and have been for a while. Baris thanks her and wanders back into the common room. He asks Sybil for another ale and about the local legends. Sybil tells the knight that the local legend about the bandit Merren. She tells him that when she was a little girl her daddy told her that the bandit had many hiding places around Chybisa; one was north of the river, but the several of them were south of the river and there was one on but not of the river. That comment causes Ewen to ask about any keeps that may have been on an island like Shobald in Burzyn. She doesn’t know of any and says her daddy used to sing a song about Merren, but it’s been so long she’s forgotten it. Shrugging, she walks toward the bar to get the requested ale. As she is making her way back to the bar the party sees Uthr leaving. He waves good-bye and Ewen says Ciao! This confuses Uthr for a moment before he smiles and walks out the door.

Sybil’s mention of the song of Merren sparks a memory for Ewen about a song he heard a while ago, when he was a harper. He thinks it was called “Merren O’ the Valley” and the beginning lines went something like “ Listen close and hear me loud as I sing of Merren’s band; meanest bunch of cutthroats to walk the land,” but that is all he can recall. The party thinks that there might be a clue in the song, but since Ewen can’t remember it, they discuss other things.

Cekiya, by this time, is bored and asks Ewen if she can wander around town for something to do. Ewen puts limits on Cekiya, telling her just to listen for information and not to get into trouble, but agrees that she should get some fresh air.

Outside, Cekiya notices a small market going on. She buys an apple from a boy for a farthing and wanders back to the docks where she throws her apple core into the river. A voice from behind her says “That was a good throw.”

Without turning around Cekiya simply says, “Practice.”

A man with a lined face, sandy-straw colored hair, and a deliberate goatee leans up against the hawser near Cekiya and mentions that he hasn’t seen her before.

“I’m a stranger in town.”

“Well, I see that. What brings you here?”

“I just came for my apple.”

“Long way to come for an apple.”

“Good apple.”

“Musta been. What’s your name?” As he tries to get an answer out of Cekiya, she notices that several river-types have stopped working and are watching the exchange between the two of them.

“Why should I tell you my name?”

“I’ll tell you mine.”

In typical Cekiya fashion, she seems to switch direction in the conversation asking the man if he likes apples. The man, taking the sharp turn in stride, answers yes. Cekiya smiles and tells the man her name. He tells her that his name is Shamus. She asks him if he is from here.

“Not really. I’ve only been here four years. I’m originally from Kaldor. I learned how to sail on the Kald.”

“They call it the River’s End, but I think that there’s more.”

“Yes, there’s more. Both ways, in fact.”

“Why did you end up here?”

“It seemed far enough away.”

Cekiya laughs at this comment and tells Shamus that he seems like her kind of guy. Shamus is quick to explain that the reason that he is here is nothing he did, but sometimes the accusation is enough. Cekiya nods, saying that sometimes you need to leave trouble behind. Shamus looks at Cekiya and tells her to take some advice; “A little lady on wharves could get into trouble.”

“I can take care of myself,” Cekiya answers, but thanks him for the advice before wandering away.

Shamus calls after her “You said you came for an apple. Did you come for anything else?”

Cekiya looks over her shoulder and answers, “Maybe.”

Shamus looks at her and says it was nice to meet you, Cekiya, stressing her name.

“Nice to meet you too, Shamus.”

Back in the common room, three men enter. On is attired as a knight the other two look like men-at-arms. They walk over to Keffer and the party overhears them asking “Is that them?”

Keffer replies, “Yes, milord.” The knight nods and walks over to the party with his hand loosely on the hilt of his sword.

“Greetings.”

Ewen rises and responds in kind.

“I am Sir Falyd Kordis. I am the captain of the Baron’s guard.” Ewen introduces himself.

“I understand…” the knight begins to say looking around the table before noticing Baris. Baris then rises and introduces himself. Sir Falyd nods, and continues, “We were interested to hear that two foreign knights were in town and did not present themselves.”

Ewen responds that they didn’t want to presume by inviting themselves up to the manor and to the busy Baron as they are just passing through.

“Allow me to extend the invitation then, we would like very much for you to presume.”

“When would like us to come then?”

“How about now? Is now good for you?”

“That would be perfect. Would you mind serving as our escort, Sir Falyd?” Ewen replies quite calmly.

Sir Falyd responds that it would be his pleasure. Ewen mentions that he is traveling with a small party. Sir Falyd replies that just the Sirs Baris and Ewen are more than sufficient to represent the whole group. Ewen nods, telling the knight that he will just leave the rest of the group in the good service of the innkeeper.

“Excellent. Follow me.” Sir Falyd says taking the lead with Ewen and Baris coming next and the two men-at-arms in the rear.

Outside they find Attuc waiting with their two horses. As they mount up, Sir Falyd admires Ewen’s horse. Ewen thanks him and tells him that it is a Khanset. Sir Falyd agrees that they are a wonderful breed, mentioning that they get mostly Hodiri, a solid breed of horses around here. They take the long way around using the road up to the manor. They pass the temple of Peoni, the mill, and the orchard before reaching the castle. As they enter through the gates there are two other men-at-arms on guard. They pass through the gatehouse which has two portcullises, and into the courtyard. Stable hands come out immediately and take the horses as the knights dismount. The entrance to the keep is up a wooden board ramp to the door. Entering the keep into the ante chamber they see archer slits and a portcullis and then the round the corner to the guard room and two guards waiting there. Sir Falyd is then joined by another knight not wearing mail. Sir Falyd introduces the man as Sir Alred Legith. Alred says that he is the Steward of Lerenil and that the Baron awaits. He takes them through iron bound wood doors and around the corner and down a corridor and into the great hall which empty. In the great hall there is a couple of tapestries hanging on the wall that appear to depict battles with the central figure in appropriately heroic poses. The steward turns to his left and knocks on a door. They hear a muffled “enter” and the Alred opens the door and introduces Sir Ewen and Sir Baris. The room is a smaller chamber, appropriate for the council’s chambers, with the Baron sitting at the head of the table immersed in paperwork and looking slightly uncomfortable. The Baron looks up and says, “Welcome to Lerenil.”

Both knights bow with Ewen taking the lead saying “It seems we have been remiss.”

“Yes, you seem to be unaware of our customs. You are not from here?” the Baron asks.

“Our apologies.” Baris says.

“Your business?” The baron curtly replies.

“We have come as travelers. We are from Tharda and we have come from Kaldor to here.”

“You are a long way from home. What brings you here?”

“We’ve come with interest of history and legends. Our curiosity has brought us here.”

The Baron sighs, “Ah, no doubt you are here for our local legends.”

Baris answers that yes they have heard that some of the villagers have heard a similar story and that they hope to succeed where others have not.” The Baron seems resigned to this tale and asks the knights if they plan on digging up the town commons. Ewen scoffs at the thought. The baron seems appeased by this.

“Tharda you say. When were you last in Tharda?”

“Last spring. We traveled with the Salt Route Caravan and here we are.” Ewen replies.

“I trust I won’t be hearing anything I shouldn’t hear?” The baron asks.

“Of course, thank you for hospitality.” Ewen replies.

Before the baron can dismiss them, Baris wisely asks if there are any more local customs they should be aware of while in his district. The baron asks if any more knights are following them and when he hears that the answer is no, he tells Baris that there is nothing more he should know and dismisses them both going back to his paperwork. The steward sees them out, and Ewen and Baris return to the common room of the inn.

At some point during the day the innkeeper serves the table instead of Sybil. He is a taciturn person and the party can not engage him in any conversation. Quinn has returned from the stables and tells the group that the horses are in good hands. There is also an ostler’s apprentice there but he didn’t get his name as he didn’t speak much Harnic. He and Attuc are Hodiri.

As the day progresses more and more people come into the inn. Eventually a person the group thinks is Old Wat enters. He has a long unkempt beard, rugged clothing, and is quite smelly. He plunks himself down at a table and continues to talk to himself. The party hears snippets of the one-sided conversation about a meal he once had. Apparently, it was a good one. No one at the surrounding table seems to be listening to him. After a few minutes of him muttering to himself, Sybil walks over to him and points out the party, confirming their guess that this is old Wat. He gets up and comes over.

“You’re the strangers that was askin’ ‘bout me?”

Kaelyn, praying that she remains upwind of the man answers “We hear you got stories.”

“Yep. Sybil said you wanted stories.”

Baris, hoping to narrow down the old man’s collection of stories tells him that they are interested in the stories of the old manors, mainly where they are.

“Why there is nothing there. No food, no ale!” Wat says as Sybil brings him ale and a shot of whiskey which he promptly slams. “I got lots of stories. Let me tell you about a storm I was once in…” he goes off for a few minutes on this topic for a few minutes before Kaelyn interrupts.

“Tell us stories of Merren.”

“Oh, he’s still around. I don’t think he’s responsible for those ghosties, animals dropping dead and the like. It’s not like him. He just rides around on his black horse scaring people. Like you all.” He takes a large swig of his ale.

Ewen invites him to join for dinner, for which Wat thanks him and then proceeds to order a whole lot of food. As they are waiting for the food, Baris continues to question Wat, “So you’ve seen him?”

“Of course I have. Mostly along the river.”
Ewen tells Wat they would like to see him and that he would pay good silver to do so.

“Oh no you don’t. Besides, I haven’t seen him in three or four months.”

“What usually makes him appear?” Ewen continues.

“Don’t know. I don’t think he’s quite right in the head,” the pot says calling the kettle black.

“Sybil mentioned a song her daddy sang her, do you know it?” Baris asks.

“Of course, I won’t be singing it for y’all, but I’ll tell yas.” He proceeds to tell the group the song, beginning with the opening line that Ewen half-way remembered. After he was done, Baris asks Wat if he can take them to some of the manors where legend says Merren buried his treasure. Wat tells the party that he can take them to where they want to go, adding upon hearing they want to go to Landin first that he doesn’t know the area too well, but he can get them there. Baris comes up with the idea, if the distances are not great between the manors that they do a circuit of them. Wat adds up the time in his head and tells the party that the whole trip would take about four days. Baris says they want to leave tomorrow. Ewen asks Wat what his fee would be for taking them.

“Three manors, four days, and you’re supplyin’ the food?” At Ewen’s nod, Wat continues, “you’ll pay in advance here at the River’s End a month of food and ale.”

Ewen, not wanting to bargain with the innkeeper tells Wat that he pays in silver. Wat nods, “Well, whatever Keffer wants. I just want some provender on account. And Merren shows up…all bets are off.”

Ewen agrees.

Azura 4, 731

The next morning Ewen pays the bill. The total comes to, with the food and ale consumed last night (53.5d), the lodging for people and horses (38d), and Wat’s fee (87.5d), 279d.

As Kaelyn readies her horse she glances at Wat and then at the dwarf, still riding double with her, and realizes it could be worse. Wat tells the party he does not ride, but will walk along with his mule. Wat leads the party out of town past the mill and the potter’s establishment. The day is cold and rainy so the path is muddy and the trip is slow going. About an hour down the road the party comes to a fork in the road. Wat takes the road to the left, following the stream. The party rides on for another two hours, following the road as it winds from east to south. Around noon the party sees the shore of a small lake and the ruins of Landin Manor. Most of the manor is visible in small remains. There are a few posts, piles of rubbish and the growth of years of neglect is choking everything. The party sees where there were once cleared fields, now overgrown with weeds and grass. Only two buildings seem to be identifiable. One is what was possible a church, with only the foundation and a corner still some-what intact. The other is the manor house, itself. The foundation seems to be still good and there is a portion of the roof still standing. The party spends a little time searching various parts of the manor, but they find nothing and after a short lunch they are off for Omaldy.

Wat reverses course and leads the party back up to the creek to a point where it turns sharply; they follow the creek until there is a natural fjord and Wat leads them across. Wat glances up at the sky occasionally and is heard muttering “Be better if I had some sky to fix on.” He continues to lead the party, more or less, due west of the stream, traipsing across mucky fields and the like for another three hours until the party comes to another stream. Wat and the party follow that stream south along the east bank. The party eventually comes to another fork in the road and Wat again takes the road to the left. About an hour and a half later the party sees another ruined manor, Omaldy. It looks the same as Landin, only smaller and with the manor house being made out wood. The party decides to rest for the night in the woods and do some exploring tomorrow morning. As they did not bring any tents Baris, Ewen, Havard, and Imarë construct lean-tos. Baris’ immediately collapses, while Havard, building his shelter out of stone, and Imarë, building hers out of wood, both construct beautiful, sturdy shelters. Ewen’s shelter is serviceable, but pales in comparison to Imarë’s and Havard’s.

After the party eats, they have a discussion about the day’s lack of findings and what to do next, out of Wat’s hearing. Eventually they decide to continue their course of action and will make a new plan when something occurs or at the very end of the trip and they all retire for the night. Around midnight, Kaelyn wakes up and notices that the rain has stopped and the normally overcast sky is clear. The full moon casts a bright light around the ruins of the manor. She sees that the rest of party is still asleep. She hears the whinny of horse and when she looks in the direction of the sound she sees the silhouette of a rider and horse. The horse has dropped its head to nibble the grass. The cloaked rider turns towards Kaelyn and says “Missed it!” He gives an insane laugh, wheels his horse and gallops away. Kaelyn now wakes up for real and sees that it is still raining and all but Imarë are asleep.

Azura 5, 731

In the morning as all eat breakfast, with Wat still sleeping, Kaelyn recounts her dream. Ewen attempts to establish a rapport with Kaelyn and succeeds. He sees the dream exactly as Kaelyn did; in fact it is now as if Ewen also had the same dream. Imarë scans the area for any residue of energy and does find some. While the party is talking about this development, Wat wakes and asks what the fuss is about. Ewen informs him that Kaelyn had an odd dream and Wat instantly knows that Kaelyn saw Merren and reminds the party of the deal that if he was spotted Wat was out of here. Kaelyn tells Wat that is not what he said, but that if Wat saw him, then the deal was off, and since Wat did not see them, then Wat still has to be their guide. Wat mutters something about a technicality, but a thinly veiled threat gets him to lead the party back toward Landin.

Once back at Landin, Baris decides he want to explore the root cellar. Somehow the 6’1”, burly knight makes his way down the collapsed beams into the cellar. He finds nothing of interest, although the rest of the party has a good laugh.

While Baris is in the cellar, Havard does a little investigating of the stones on the existing foundation. He comes across a carving on the cornerstone. The carving appears to be a map and with his vast knowledge of stonework, realizes that the map was added sometime after the cornerstone was laid. After an interesting internal debate, he calls the rest of the party over to view it. Kaelyn thinks that the symbols are very similar to what some pilots use to designate swamp or marsh areas. Ewen does a quick scan of the area and seems convinced that there is no magical residue anywhere in the area. Baris, now out of the cellar, pulls some drafting paper from his belongings and draws a perfect duplicate of the map on the cornerstone. The party then defaces the cornerstone map. After that, they decide that going on to Staenor to check the other cornerstones would be a good idea.

Wat retraces his steps, leading the party back up the road, following the creek and going across more fields. The party then crosses another creek and travel due west for a while. After a while of traveling, Havard comes to the conclusion that Wat is following some sort of path, or track. He shares his thoughts with the rest of the group and Imarë grudgingly concedes that Havard is right. They are following a very overgrown track that could have been the actual road between manors at one time. As the rain lets up, Imarë can just barely follow the tracks and sees in the distance the ruins of the manor. They party’s spirits rise as Imarë shares the news that she can see their destination, and then fall again as they realize they still have a long way to go across the mucky trail, damn elven eyesight.

The party arrives at Staenor around mid-afternoon. They see it is just like Landin with two differences. One there is no church foundation or any other structure that looks like it had once been a church. Second the manor house has a slightly better preserved structure. The portion of the house that has been destroyed by time was the area of the house with the stairs leading to the second floor. Baris and Havard find the cornerstone of the Staenor manor buried underneath some ruble and old beams. They clear the area and find another map. After looking at the new drawing, the party comes to the conclusion that the maps that they found at both manors are actually two pieces of a larger map. Baris brings out the copy of the previous map and draws the new section in. The party then destroys the map portion of the cornerstone. As the light is fading they decide to stay the night in a semi-habitable portion of the kitchen.

Azura 6, 731

The day dawns with a break in the rain and chilly weather. It is now hot, bright, and foggy. As get ready to ride to the next manor Cekiya hears Ewen express concern that while they destroyed the maps at each manor, Wat still has knowledge of them. She mulls this over for a while as they head up the trail and comes to the conclusion that there is only one possible solution to the matter. She waits until most of the party is riding ahead of her, including Wat. She pulls out her dagger as she eases her horse up to the slowly walking Wat and neatly plunges it into his neck, killing him almost instantly. The others hear the strangled sound Wat makes as he dies and they turn to find Cekiya moving up to join the rest of them, leaving the body behind. Havard, seeing an opportunity in the demise of Wat, has Kaelyn stop their horse so that he may move the keg of ale from their horse to the now ownerless mule. As Havard does this, Baris can be heard lecturing Quinn on not following in Cekiya’s footsteps in life. The party, sort of sure of where their going, finishes the trek to Gallar Manor where they find, that like Omaldy, it was too made of wood. They find no cornerstone with a piece of the map on it.

The discussion now is whether they go to the last manor, Forstane, or head back to Lerenil. As is it around noon they decide that they have plenty of time to head to Forstane and then head back to Lerenil. Two hours later they come to Forstane. The manor is still in relatively good shape, but they find no carvings of a map on the cornerstones. They explore the area a little more before heading back to the River’s End in Lerenil. They reach their destination towards dusk, and once again Attuc comes out of the stables to take their horses and new mule. Attuc recognizes Wat’s mule and he asks about him. Havard explains that he bought the mule from Wat. Attuc nods and says they may not see Wat for some time now that he has some silver in his pocket. Havard corrects him saying that he paid gold and Attuc amends his statement, “May never see Wat again. This is good. Wat no care for mule. Attuc take care of mule.” Havard slips Attuc a silver penny with his thanks. Attuc pockets the penny saying he knows what to do with it.

Once inside Anice greets them and informs them that their rooms are still available if they are interested. Since it has been a long day, they all immediately retire to their rooms.

Azura 7, 731

The party wakes to find the day overcast yet still warm. They are all in high spirits as they meet for breakfast. It is quickly decided that Cekiya found a friend down at the docks she should go pay him a visit and find out if he know an area that resembles the one on the map.

Once at the docks she doesn’t see Shamus, so she goes up to first guy she does see. After a few moments of conversation, Cekiya finds out that Shamus is at the hostel. She tries to enter the hostel but is stopped at the door. After convincing the river man at the door that she is a friend of Shamus’, much to his amusement, the man leads Cekiya to a back room. Shamus is not exactly thrilled to see his little ‘friend’ and tells her to leave the door open as she enters. She shrugs and says she’ll just talk quietly.

“I have not found trouble yet,” she says beginning the conversation.

“You just did,” he answers sourly. As she looks slightly confused and sorry that she missed the trouble, he continues, “What can I do for you?”

“You’re a river man … I need a river man’s mind to pick”

“What do you mean exactly?”

“I have a place I want to go to but I don’t know where.”

“No surprise there.” He answers, not fazed by her.

She tells him that it is an old drawing and she doesn’t know what it is depicting, and she starts to describe the portion of the map they have. A quick look of relief crosses Shamus’ face and asks to see the drawing. Cekiya shows him the drawing that Baris did. After a few moments he tells Cekiya he knows where it is.

“How do I get there?”

“What’s there?” He asks as he deliberately walks around Cekiya never taking his eyes off of her and closes the door with no emotion on his face.

“I don’t know” She answers honestly. He asks again, to the same response. He asks one more time, Cekiya tells him the same thing and asks how does she get there. He now opens the door and tries to bid her good-bye and Cekiya closes it again. She tells him there might be treasure and that he should come too.

“Why are you interested in this treasure? You aren’t even sure what’s there.”

“I had a dream,” she says.

“What kind of dream?” he asks suspiciously.

“I missed something.”

Shamus takes a moment to think and appears to have made up his mind about the whole idea. He tells here that he sees no reason to help her. Cekiya says she’s not leaving until he does.

“Yes you are,” and he opens the door again, “it’s time you left. You’ve given me no reason to show you and I don’t care if you get into trouble on the docks.” He tries to take her arm and she tells him that touching is bad and he tells her that she better leave or their will be more touching, and he repeats her words of ‘touching bad’

She sulks out and finds Kaelyn waiting on the docks for Cekiya to remerge.

Cekiya tells Kaelyn what happened and Kaelyn takes the map from her to find a more willing pilot. Cekiya stays near the hostel’s front door, watching.

Kaelyn spots the nivik and goes over to the pilot. He introduces himself as Jens of Elmer. She gives him a brief outline what she needs and shows him the map. He tells her that there are several island type sandbars near the mouth of the river about 20 leagues away. She asks if he would be willing to transport several people. He tells her that he would and will actually give her a good price as he is almost desperate need of cargo. She tells him that she must talk with the others, but will have answer either way before nightfall. Kaelyn heads back to the River’s End, leaving Cekiya alone near the hostel door.

As Cekiya watches the door, the man who let her into the hostel comes out and tells her to get off the property. She glares at him and moves into the street by the hostel’s gate. Kaelyn comes back a few minutes later to tell Jens that she would like to book passage with the intention of leaving in the early evening for the various islands. A price of two shillings is agreed upon for the round trip. Kaelyn has to yell at Cekiya to come with her back to the Inn.

The party leaves in the early evening as planned and they spend the night on the nivik.

Azura 8, 731

The rain returns and intensifies during the night, bring the cold back with it. Everything on and near the river appears to be steaming from the change in temperature. Shortly after sunrise a small island appears. On either side of the island is marshy territory. Jens anchors near by and the party lands on the island. It is a very small island, really just a glorified sandbar. As they explore, Imarë sees what appears to be a sod hut somewhat inland. The hut looks normal, with half of a level being below ground level. In the hut there is an obvious chest in one room. Inside the chest there are some various tools; pick, shovel, rope and a book. When the book is examined it turns out to be a ledger of some kind, listing:

Treasure Value Location
100 Crowns Pit
Sapphire of Burzyn Pit
Silver Coin 1,000d Pit
Wand of Ankara Sold Tro
Calsten’s Blade Sold Augur
Jewel of Ansalon ? £50 Pit
Varadel Cloak ? £1,000 Pit
Coronet of Tashal £5,000 Pit
Mountain Herbs Sold Augur
Dagger of Khatan Sold Augur
Charts of Ederwyn ? Pit
Journal of Jamys Wyll ? Pit
Swordbreaker Sold Tro